And Then You
by queenofsarcasm-14
Summary: Erica rolls with the punches
1. February 2016

**And Then You**

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners.

This is for you, Callica fans!

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><p><em>February 2016<em>

'Dr Hahn?'

One of the nurses has poked his head around the door of the post-op recovery room that my residents and I are currently crammed into. I assume he wants me to sign off on a patient's chart.

'Yes?'

'Can I speak to you please?'

'I'll find you as soon as I'm finished with Mr Finnegan here.'

I assume that's the end of the conversation and I turn away. To my annoyance he doesn't leave.

'Dr Hahn, I'm afraid it's important.'

'As is my patient. I will find you in a minute.'

My tone leaves no room for discussion but unbelievably he stays where he is. As the residents shuffle and exchange glances he seems to be deliberating what to say. At last he blurts out:

'It's your son. He's at the nurse's station.'

_Work is work. Life is life._ Words from a previous existence. My mouth is suddenly dry.

'Is he sick?'

'Uh, no. He's very upset though. Daycare brought him down. He's asking for you.'

When I was still a resident the attending physician had delayed the start of an appendectomy so he could hear his son's opening lines in the school play. His wife had been in the audience holding her cell phone. It stuck in my mind, hearing his son's scratchy adolescent voice over the intercom, playing to a second audience, while the patient lay unconscious and bare. Standing next to him I thought '_that will never be me.' _But now.

Mrs Finnegan is already waving me out of the room before I ask her permission.

'Don't even think twice, Doctor.'

'Thankyou. I'll just be a minute. Wait outside,' I tell the residents which I regret because no sooner have I stepped into the hall than I can hear him, screaming at the top of his lungs as if he's being tortured. _No wonder, with Hahn for a mother_ I imagine them saying and take off at speed before I have the chance to read it in one of their faces.

I round the corner and there he is, sitting on the counter, his bear dangling from one hand, the other clutched tight in a fist. His face is all red and scrunched up and his little legs are kicking ineffectually. _Maybe this is what he looked like when he was born_. I missed that. But I'm here now.

'Jamie.'

At my voice his eyes fly open. _Callie's eyes_, I think involuntarily even though that's impossible. I've wondered in the past if that's why I love him so fiercely, because every time I look at him I'm reminded of Callie who I loved first.

'Momma!' The word explodes from him as forcefully as a bullet leaving a gun. Fearlessly he tries to jump down from the counter which causes me to have one heartstopping moment of panic before he is caught by one of the nurses who sets him on his feet. He throws himself at me and my senses get overloaded in a second: his hot damp face, the smell of the strawberry shampoo that Callie likes to wash the boys' hair with, his heart underneath his T-shirt beating wildly close to mine.

I pull him close for a second and then draw back a bit, my hands still on his arms, our faces close as can be.

'Jamie. Jay bird. Use your big boy voice and tell me what's wrong.'

He's still sobbing but the awful screaming has stopped. That's still incredible to me, the fact that my prescence alone can comfort someone.

'Julie killed Balloo!'

I then notice that Balloo, the toy bear that he's had since he was born is suffering from a chest injury. A big one. Stuffing is falling out like guts.

'What happened, bud?'

That question is answered by the girl from daycare who looks almost as upset as Jamie.

'She must have got hold of the craft scissors when I had my back turned. I'm so sorry, Dr Hahn, to interrupt you like this but he was so distraught and-'

'It's alright, Shannon. Jamie, Balloo isn't dead.'

His whole face lights up with hope. He trusts me so much it's almost frightening. _Alright Hahn, time to think on your feet._ Damn it, Callie is so much better at this stuff.

'No. He's hurt pretty badly but I can still hear his heartbeat. Here,' I hold Balloo to Jamie's ear, 'you listen too. Can you hear it?'

After a second he nods solemnly. I lay the bear in my arm like a baby.

'He needs some stitches. But until I have time to do those I'm going to patch him up okay?'

'Like with a band aid?'

'Yep. Exactly like that. Now sit back up here while I work on him.'

He, the nurses, and the stunned residents watch me intently as I gently push the stuffing back into place and stick some gauze over the wound. _That brat_, I'm thinking the whole time, _I hope Jamie cuts your hair off._

'Alright!' I say with a flourish when I'm finished. 'Good as new,' and I give him back to Jamie, congratulating myself on pulling that one off.

He accepts the bear patiently but then he keeps looking at me expectantly. My heart sinks, I've missed something, I haven't played my part properly.

'Momma,' he stagewhispers, deciding to help me. 'You haven't kissed him better.'

I feel the eyes of every person in the hall on me, quite a crowd has gathered. In front of all of them I lean over and kiss Balloo, on the gauze, right where his heart would be. The nurses give me covert indulgent smiles whilst pretending to be busy and Jamie starts dangling Balloo by one paw again, apparently accepting that he's healed.

'Okay Jay bird, you've got to go back with Shannon now. Momma's working.'

''Kay. You look funny, Momma. Where's your hair gone?'

'It's under my cap, Jay, so it doesn't get in the way. I'll see you later, okay?'

'Yep. Love you, Momma.'

He says it casually, like it's easy and natural to love me.

'Me too, Jay.'

He walks off, hand in hand with Shannon who turns around to mouth 'sorry' one more time. It's funny, I'm not.

* * *

><p>When I go to pick Jamie up from daycare at four he informs me that he's busy and doesn't want to go. There's paint all over him and he's coloring a picture of a dolphin. 'For Mami', he tells me, looking like a child saint.<p>

'Well, you're going to have to give it to her tomorrow. Go and get your backpack, please.' He pouts but doesn't bother arguing with me, they both soon learned that was pointless.

'Where's Mami?' he asks when we're walking down the hall to the elevator, Balloo's head poking out of the top of his backpack.

'She's picking your hermano up from school. Want to wait with me in the cafeteria for them?'

'Yeah! Can I have fries?'

'Nope. No fries.'

'Can I have...chips?'

'No.'

'Jello?'

'No.'

'What can I have?'

'Fruit.'

'Oh.' His head falls, crestfallen. Then: 'Can I have grape jello?'

'Ha! Nice try. No.'

The elevator doors open and any disappointment about the fruit evaporates when he sees Sloan is in there.

'Uncle Mark!'

'Hi, Tiny Torres!' The hospital nickname for Jamie is proof that I'm not the only one who sees a lot of Callie in him.

'Erica,' he says, grinning at me. He was thinking of something dirty, I just know it.

'Manwh- I mean, Sloan. Hello.'

'Heading home for some of Mami's delicious cooking?'

'We're going to the cafeteria first. I have to have fruit.' He shares a look with Mark which has more than a hint of conspiracy. Sloan had the boys over to his apartment for 'mantime' last week and I'm fairly sure he fed them something disgusting like pizza with Lucky Charms as a topping. Callie's response to my suspicions: 'Hey, at least he didn't take them to Hooters.'

'Moms can be tough sometimes, hey little guy?'

'Yeah!' I shoot Sloan a murderous look but he only takes that as encouragement.

'You know, Tiny Torres, I could tell you a lot of stories about this elevator.'

'Sloan-'

'Including a killer one about your Moms.'

'Sloan, I swear if you corrupt my child-'

The doors open. Sloan still has that annoying grin on his face.

'I guess this is your floor. I'll save that story for another time. Bye, Jay. Tell Leo we're still on for the batting cages on Friday. Erica, enjoy your night.' He winks at me and then is thankfully gone.

'Momma, what story?'

'Nothing Jay, come on.'

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><p>I buy grapes for us to share, juice box for him, coffee for me and I'm just looking around for a free table when he takes off at full speed, like a greyhound after a rabbit. I follow as fast as I can but damn, he's quick.<p>

'Momma,' he says, a bit breathless from his high speed pursuit, when I catch him up, 'it's AZ!'

He's already made himself comfortable in the seat next to the famously perky head of paeds. He worships her, even more than suave 'Uncle Mark', but then Robbins usually has a trail of kids following her like the Pied Piper, it's no wonder Jamie's fallen under her spell as well.

'Jamie, if you run off like that again you'll be in time out when we get home. Sorry about that, Robbins, Bailey,' I say, nodding to the other occupant of the table.

'Oh, no problem,' she says flashing me her thousand mega watt grin. Robbins gave me her spiel about 'magic' happening in the paeds ward once which almost made me vomit. Not to mention that she introduced herself as 'Arizona Robbins, lesbian, gold star' when she heard that Callie and I were together. Still, she's a good doctor, seems to like my kids and can drink like a sailor so I suppose she's not all bad.

'Why don't you join us,' she says gracefully.

'Thanks.'

'AZ has fries!' Jamie says in an outraged tone which carries the whole of the cafeteria.

_Goddamn fries._

'I'll trade you for one of your grapes,' she says winking. 'If it's OK with your Mom.'

Wearily, I nod.

'And Jamie, say hello to Dr Bailey. Chew first.' I add quickly.

'Hello, Dr Bailey,' he says dutifully. He's a little afraid of her which is no bad thing.

'Hello, James. Been painting today?'

'How did you know?' he says, dumbstruck.

'Oh, I know a lot of things, James. _Lots of things_.'

'How are the plans for the baptism coming along?' Robbins asks. Robbins loves baptisms, naturally.

'Oh, you know. Catholicism is a lot of work. This is only the beginning. After this there's confession, communion, confirmation. And Callie's father is insisting they go to Holy Cross for college because 'that's where Torreses go'. He's got places reserved for them apparently. They're _six and four_ for God's sakes.'

Bailey raises a sympathetic eyebrow.

'And the _whole_ family is coming here?'

'Yes. My Mom and Dad and two brothers. Callie's parents are _flying up in the jet_. They offered to pick my parents up on the way but my Dad wants to take a road trip. That will end in trouble. Callie's brother and Spanish Barbie as well ' I shudder, thinking of the last time I saw Aria. She tried to take me shoe shopping. 'The Torreses are staying in a hotel thankfully. But still. _My_ family will be in our house. For five days.'

Both of them look suitably horrified.

'And then there's the ceremony. Do you have any idea how long Catholics take to do anything? We'll be there for days probably.'

'Momma, are you blaspheming again?'

Bailey snorts with laughter.

'Who taught you that word?'

'Abuelito. On the phone the other night. He said that you were a heathen but that it was okay because Leo and me are getting accepted to the True Faith.'

'You know, Jay, I can't wait to see your Abuelito.'

'Me neither!' he says enthusiastically, the sarcasm completely lost on him.

My phone buzzes.

'Okay, that's your Mami. She's in the parking garage. Come on, Jay bird. Fly home.'

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><p>'Hola, mijo! Been painting?' Jamie, the little charmer, is leaning forward in his car seat to give Callie a kiss, making it difficult for me to strap him in.<p>

'Jay, you're making things a little bit difficult for me here.'

'I'm just trying to say hello to Mami!'

'Tell you what, I'll give Mami a kiss for you, okay?' I smile at Callie just a tiny bit suggestively.

'Eww,' says Leo, wrinkling his nose.

'Give Leo a kiss, Jamie. You haven't seen him since this morning.'

'Kiss Leo? Gross!'

'Yeah gross, Momma,' he complains but he submits willingly enough when I lean over and kiss his forehead.

'How was school, buddy?'

'Good. '

'Hey, have I told you how handsome you look in your uniform?' Callie's father insisted on paying for a private Catholic school, I gave in gracefully after a token protest. _He's missed out on four years of spoiling_, Callie had wheedled.

He smiles his shy little half smile.

'Can we read when we get in?'

'Yep, after dinner.'

'You have to sew up Balloo after dinner!'

'I haven't forgotten, Jay, don't worry.'

Finally, I get to climb in the front.

'So, where's my kiss?'

'Um. I'll give it to you later?'

She smiles, definite suggestion. Hint of seduction.

'What happened to Balloo?' she says offhandedly as she pulls out of the garage.

'Oh, stab wound to the chest. He needs some stitches but it's not fatal.'

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><p>Hope you liked it, more of Leo and the adoption story to come.<p> 


	2. May 2011

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners.

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><p><em>May 2011<em>

'Yang, what is _wrong_ with you today?'

God, Yang is hard enough to like when she's on the ball. When she spends all day staring into space and dropping instruments in the OR she's unbearable.

'Nothing.'

'Yang, you're behaving like a space cadet. Has your mind finally been warped from excess tequila intake?

'No. I-'

'Well, pull yourself together, Yang, the last thing this hospital needs is another incompetent resident. Joe won't take you back either, you can't mix a drink to save your life. Although I suppose there's always candy striping.'

She doesn't even glare at me. Where's the fight gone from her? She looks like she's gone ten rounds in a boxing ring. She looks beaten.

'You didn't want it, Yang,' I say in a bored tone.

'Pardon?'

'Chief Resident. I can only assume that you're moping around like a kicked puppy because Hunt gave Chief Resident to Kepner and not you. But trust me, it's not for you.'

She just stares at me. I can only assume that's how I look when Callie speaks Spanish to me. _Rubia, _she calls me_._

'Look, Yang, Chief Resident is not for people like you,' I decide to show some solidarity, 'or me. Do you know what Kepner will be doing the next time someone who has tree bark for skin is brought in or a baby is born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome? She'll be arranging Karev's vacation for when he has to make his next trip home to Dysfunctionville or hearing you bitch about me. She'll be in some pointless meeting about scheduling rounds. It's a paper pusher job, Yang. Not to mention you have to like people and behave like a normal human being. You had a lucky escape.'

'You mean, _you_ weren't Chief Resident?'

Is that all she got from that speech? Why do I waste my breath?

'No, Yang, I was not. They offered it to me, naturally. But I had better things to do. Like surgeries.'

'Don't you want to be Chief of Surgery?'

Well, that came out of left field.

'Not that it's any of your business, Yang, but no. I waste enough time doing paperwork as it is. I'd rather stab myself with a scalpel than attend breakfast meetings and budget reviews. Actually, I'm sure you'd do it for me. You must have fantasised about it once or twice.'

I don't even bother pausing, she's not going to deny it.

'Yang,' I say with a sigh, 'listen carefully because my patience is running very thin. You have to own who you are. _You_ are not happy unless you have a scalpel in your hand, you are ruthless and cut throat and single minded. It's never seemed to bother you before so put it out of your head so your common sense has a fighting chance of getting back in there.'

She nods like she's realized something. _Finally._ I was worried I was going to have to slap her. Amusing though it would be, no doubt the Chief would summon me to his office for a talk about appropriate behavior at work.

'Alright. We have to be back in surgery in twenty minutes. Go away until then.'

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><p>When I finally get home Callie is sitting on the couch, staring into space. <em>Misery loves company. <em>I can't remember who told me that.

'Hi,' I say. 'Do you want some wine? I'm having some.'

'Hmm? Oh, wine. Yes. Wine is good.'

'How was your day?', she asks, still in that dreamy preoccupied tone, when I bring her glass over.

'Oh, fine. Yang nearly drove me to homicide but I managed to restrain myself. Are you alright?' I ask, when I see how stricken her face is.

She leans forward and kisses me, fiercely, leans her forehead against mine for a second afterwards. She has a strange, intense look on her face which worries me.

'Callie, what's wrong?'

'I just...I love you, okay?'

'I love you too. But that doesn't answer my question.'

'Yang was behaving weirdly?'

Okay, so we'll play the long game.

'She's probably just sulking about not getting Chief Resident. Apparently she's the only one that didn't see it coming.'

Callie sighs.

'That's not why.'

'Okay. So she and Grey have had another bust up. Look, Callie-'

'She's pregnant.'

Her voice is flat. I did not see _that_ coming.

'Yang is _breeding?_'

My short bark of laughter does nothing to diffuse the tension.

'No... no, it was an accident. She's getting an abortion. Her appointment's on Thursday.'

The day of our first meeting with the adoption agency.

'Hunt threw her out. She's sleeping on Grey's couch.'

'Oh.'

Her face twists in anguish. 'I'm jealous,' she admits as if this is something shameful. 'She needs me to support her and all I can think is that I wish it was me.'

Tears are escaping which she swipes angrily away. I suddenly feel awful, too, for Callie and what I can't give her..

'Oh, Callie,' I whisper as I pull her close, despite her protests. 'I'm sorry.'

She lets me hold her as the tears track down her face, unwanted but uncontrollable.

'You know, if that's what you want, then we'll do it. We'll find a donor and-'

'No. I don't want a child with a random stranger. I just...it's so easy for her. And she doesn't even...'

'I know.'

'We're going to have to be interviewed. People are going to come to our home and _inspect_ us. We have to be judged.'

'I know. I wish it was different but...'

'I wish I could have your baby. I wish you could make me pregnant.'

'I think I lack some necessary equipment.'

That gets me a weak smile but then her face clouds over again.

'She said something to me.' She pauses and then looks at me, as if she's changed her mind about telling me whatever Yang said to her. As if she's not going to like my reply. But in the end she says it anyway.

'She said she couldn't have a baby just for Hunt. She said she couldn't make that kind of sacrifice just for him.'

With a sinking feeling I realize what's coming next.

'Is that what you're doing for me? Sacrificing? Because you love me?'

'I don't see it like that.'

'Do you want a child or do you want me to have a child?'

'I...both. And anyway,' I point out, 'if I'd told you 'no' when you said that you wanted to have a child with me, you'd have thought about not having children wouldn't you?'

She nods.

'Because you love me.'

Another reluctant nod.

'And you want me to be happy. You would have considered a different type of life than the one you planned.'

'But that's _different_!' she bursts out.

'It's not, Cal. It's not at all.'

'Erica,' she says agitatedly. 'I can't bring a child into this home if you don't want it one hundred percent. It's not _right_.'

'No. You haven't let me explain. Let me try and...' I blow out a shaky breath. _Do not screw this up_. 'For a long time I didn't want children, I won't deny that. If I wasn't with you I wouldn't even have considered it. I thought...I thought for a long time that all I was was a surgeon. That I didn't need anything else. But then I met you. You have _changed me_. And yeah, I'm still who I was before but I have a life now that's not surgery. I have my life with you which is just as precious to me.'

'Erica-'

'Callie, I'm trying to say something here. A big part of this _is_ about making you happy. I realized, at some point, that if I was going to be with you, that children would be part of the equation. Of course you want children. You'll be a wonderful mother. And when I realized that I could have left. But I didn't. I decided that I'd rather have you _and_ our kids than not have you at all. I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but it's the best I can do.'

How have I made her cry _more_?

'Erica, I've never been happier than now, with you. It's not that you're not enough-'

'I _know_, Callie. This is scary for me, really scary. But, we're in it together, okay? Right now, I want this for you but when it happens I'll want it for myself. One hundred percent. I'll be our kid's _mom_. I'll kill for them. And when he or she or they or whatever come home with us none of this will matter because they'll be our kids and we'll get through. We'll be a family. We won't look back.'

'Okay.' she says softly.

'Callie, I'm not perfect. But our kids will get the best of me, I promise.'

'Then they're lucky.'

'You know,' I say absentmindedly, 'My Dad told me something once. He said that all the time my Mom was pregnant with me he wanted a boy because he couldn't imagine a greater kid than my brother. But then I turned out to be a girl and he said that's when he realized that life can be completely different than what you thought you wanted but it can still be equally as great as you imagined.'

'Oh...well, that's kind of nice,' she says when she eventually figures it out.

'Yeah, well, my Dad is kind of nice. Even if he's a bit of an amateur philosopher.'

Unexpectedly she starts giggling.

'I'm sorry,' she says when she sees my bemused face, 'but I just remembered something your Dad said to _me_ at Thanksgiving.'

'What?' I ask, feeling a smile break over my own face before she's even told me.

'He said...' she has to break off until she can control her laughter, 'he said that the day you were born it was really early and he went outside and the crickets were saying 'Erica' and that's how you got your name. The crickets told him.'

'Oh God. That.'

'He was drunk. Your Mom told me that it was your Grandma's name and that I shouldn't listen to him but he _insisted_.'

'He used to tell that story every year on my birthday. It was _awful_.'

By now we both can't stop laughing.

'Oh! And he _also_ said that he was glad that you were a lesbian because it's the only rebellious thing you've ever done. He said,' she's actually gasping for breath, 'that he didn't know what he did wrong to make you so practical and _scientific_. _And_ that he wanted you to go to a nice New England private college but you chose some 'damn ugly public school.''

'It was UConn! And it was _not_ ugly.'

'Your Mom kept trying to _apologize_! She took away his booze. But he kept going. It was _hilarious_.'

'Well, I'm glad my family is so _amusing_ to you.'

'So, you still think your Dad is 'kind of nice?''

'I think I turned out alright, despite his best efforts.'


	3. April 2016

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners.

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><p><em>April 2016<em>

'Hahn, I need to talk to you.'

Shepherd drops his tray onto the table where I'm having lunch with Callie, Sloan and Robbins. Unusually, Grey is with him, normally the cafeteria is where the Yang/Grey secret society meets. Outsiders need not apply. She sits down, looking decidedly uncomfortable and starts eating her salad, studiously avoiding eye contact.

'Shepherd, you're not bumping my surgery. I don't care if-'

'Hahn, I need to know where you're from.'

'Excuse me?'

'Well, your son is in love with my daughter. Our daughter,' he says and inclines his head towards Meredith, smiling his McDreamy perfectly at ease smile. 'Follows her around like a lovesick puppy, shares his lunch with her, holds her hand during circle time. It's all very adorable. But I'll need to know more about the family she's getting into if they're going to continue seeing each other.'

I raise my eyebrows and give him a look that makes interns burst into tears instantaneously. One hundred percent success rate.

'Shepherd, I can assure you that no child of mine would ever behave like a 'lovesick puppy.''

'Don't blame yourself, she's a Shepherd. We have that effect on people. Nothing you could have done differently.'

Grey looks like she wants to die.

'Anyway, Hahn, ' he continues, waving his hand casually, 'no-one in this hospital knows anything about you except what we got from Burke which I'm sure was completely unfair. I've asked everyone. Nurses, janitors, the daycare staff...nothing. The best I got was the coffee cart woman told me that you buy Torres chocolate chip cookies when she's in a bad mood. But that's not much to go on.'

'Can't even get anything out of Torres,' says Sloan sulkily. 'Says it's none of my business.'

'That's never put you off in the past,' Robbins points out. 'And _I_ know something about Erica. She went to Hopkins. As all awesome surgeons do.'

'Oh, we know _that_,' Sloan says disappointedly. 'We were _constantly_ having to listen to Burke relive his glory days there. Same ending to every damn story, I finished first, Hahn finished second, blah blah blah, Hahn secretly wanted to sleep with me-'

'Durham.' I say quickly.

'What?' Sloan says, confused. He actually looks annoyed that I interrupted him.

'I am from Durham, New Hampshire. Okay, Shepherd?'

'Okay,' he says with that incredibly annoying smile still firmly in place. 'Carry on.'

'Carry _on_?' Has he forgotten who he's speaking to?

'Birthday?'

'June 21st.' I say resignedly. This is an awful mistake, Robbins will now page me to paeds on my birthday and I'll have to eat cake with her and her 'super-magic' tiny humans. I won't get the glitter out of my hair for weeks.

'Born at midnight,' Callie interjects, smiling. _Stop enjoying yourself, you traitor._

'Very precise. Nice work, Hahn. Okay, so let me piece this together. Born on the solstice, in a beautiful New England summer, the grass was all green and the rivers were blue as blue and your parents named you Erica for-'

'Grandma Erica.' Callie again.

'Grandma Erica. A lovely woman I'm sure. And your middle name? Do your parents believe in middle names?'

'Oh come on, Hahn,' Sloan chips in. How sweet it would be if he lost his voice. Permanently. 'It can't be as bad as what Torres got saddled with.'

'Catherine,' I say in a monotone. God, this is boring.

'Erica Catherine. Grandma Catherine?'

'Catherine the Great, actually. Empress of Russia.' I add, after a round of blank looks from everyone. 'My father's idea.'

'Hahn,' Shepherd says carefully after a pause. 'Is your father some kind of _romantic_?'

I give him a curt nod. He looks indescribably happy. Robbins is hanging on every word as if it's a Lifetime movie. Sloan is waiting for the good part. _Keep on waiting, buddy._

'Parents' occupations?'

'They own a diner.'

'A _diner?'_

'Yes, Grey, a diner. A place where you go and order stereotypical American food such as burgers which you then eat and pay for. Perhaps you've encountered one before?'

'Sorry,' she mumbles and returns to staring at the table.

'Go easy on her _mi reyna_,' Callie murmurs with a smile. 'She's just a bystander.'

'Okay, so that's the summer job question answered,' Shepherd continues to my immense displeasure. He should have been a talk show host or a shrink. Really, he's wasted on unconscious patients. 'You worked in Dad's diner and he paid you exactly the same wage as everybody else because he's a nice, fair guy that way and wanted you to have the right values. I can't see you as a server, maybe something more behind the scenes...?'

'Line cook. My brothers were servers. Patrick- elder, Jacob-younger.' I say, saving Shepherd's breath.

'Middle child,' Sloan says, raising his eyebrows knowingly at Robbins. 'One of my elementary school friends was a middle child. He used a drag around a rock on a piece of string.'

Robbins, gratifyingly, just gives him a look that simultaneously portrays pity and disgust. After a few disastrous weeks when she first arrived I discovered that she didn't like Sloan and we haven't looked back since.

'Are your brothers blonde as well?'

'Nope. She's a changeling. The fairies brought her. What?' Callie says defensively, an equal parts sexy and annoying smirk all over her face. 'That's what your Dad _said_.'

Much as it pains me to give her my look of death I feel it's become necessary.

'High school extra-curriculars?'

'Cross-country.'

'Lone wolf.' Sloan, of course.

'Shepherd, if you're going to continue behaving like Oprah I want some free stuff. Your car, for starters.'

'I'm nearly finished now Hahn, I promise. Undergrad major?'

'Biochemistry.'

For a horrible second I think Robbins is going to attempt to high five me. Thankfully she just mock toasts our soda cups.

'Alright. And I've saved the best for last. Who inspired you to become a surgeon?'

'Oh please,' Sloan blusters. 'She came out of the womb holding a scalpel.'

For once I'm grateful that Sloan's mouth seems to be incapable of shutting. I've had more than enough of probing personal questions for one day.

'Okay then.' Shepherd beams, satisfied. 'I think that I'll allow this romance to continue. I'll have to have a man to man talk with Jamie though, find out his intentions. What do you think, Mer?'

Grey is already in mid-flight from the table.

'Um, sure. Yeah, sounds fine. I have um...postops so I'll see you.'

She gives us all an awkward wave and scuttles away. I decide, as Shepherd's ego is indestructible, I will instead make Grey suffer for my interrogation. She's far more easily wounded.

Mercifully, Shepherd decides to take his stupid, grinning face elsewhere, no doubt to coach his protegee daughter, and Robbins and Sloan tag along. I'm left with Callie, still smirking despite my entire lack of amusement. I bury my head in my hands.

'It's not that bad.'

'Not that _bad?_ _Robbins_ knows my birthday! Do you have any idea-'

'You're not going to be here on your birthday,' she interrupts calmly. 'Leo's cardiologist appointment is that day, remember?'

'Oh yes, thank God.' I've never been so grateful in my life.

She snorts. 'Only you would prefer to hang around at Seattle Children's for the morning than eat some cake with your _friends_.'

'Yeah, well,' I say sweetly, 'I'm a special person. That's why you love me.'

'Yeah. You know I tried to persuade him to let me take him but _I'm_ not a heart doctor apparently. I wouldn't understand.'

_Now _I'm smiling.

'Anyway. This is what's going to happen on your birthday. Firstly, the boys are going to make you breakfast in bed. By that I mean I'm going to make it and they can help eat it. Then I thought once you and Leo are done with your top secret meeting we could take the boys to the lake and have a picnic. After which we'll leave them with Mark or Arizona while we go to a nice restaurant and at the end of the night I'm going to try and take your clothes off.'

'I might let you,' I say, my big, dumb smile completely at odds with my nonchalant tone.

'_Might_?'

'With all that eating I'll probably burst out of them, anyway. Less work for you.'

'Mmm.' Callie is sucking her yogurt spoon, a gesture which I can't help but find...distracting. 'You never did answer Shepherd's last question.'

'Well, who needs to speak for themselves when they have Sloan to do it for them?' I say, trying for flippant but suspecting I'm not going to get off that easily.

'Seriously.'

'Fine,' I sigh. 'It was Burke.'

'_Burke? _The same Burke that I heard you tell Leo was going to fly out of his coffin and bite him if he didn't finish his reading?'

'That was a _joke._ Seriously, get over it. He _laughed_. And, yes. Burke and I were at a party once, _ not_ together,' I quickly add when I see her raised eyebrow, 'and I overheard him say to one of his buddies that cardiothoracic surgery was, and I quote, 'what separates the men from the boys.'' I shrug. 'I just decided that, while he was worrying about the boys, I was going to be a _female_ pain in his ass forever because _someone_ needed to take him down a peg or fifty and I was more than up to it.'

'So, without Burke you never would have become a surgeon?'

'I didn't say _that_. He inspired me. For the wrong reasons, sure, but he still inspired me.'

'Inspired you with hate,' she says, laughing. I don't deny it.

I decide to change the subject. Talking about Burke really isn't good for my blood pressure.

'Does Jamie really follow Shepherd the Younger around like a puppy dog?'

'Yep. 'Fraid so. It really is cute though.'

'We need to have a talk about playing hard to get.'

'Nooooo,' she mock protests, 'devastating as it is to see him so devoted to another woman, think how many embarrassing stories we can get out of this to tell at his twenty first birthday party. I got a picture of them walking hand in hand yesterday, it's _gold,_ trust me.'

'Hmm.' I'm still not too happy about my son being the follower and not the followed.

'Come on _mi emperatriz, mi reyna_, my empress, my queen_. _We have surgeries. And puppies to train.'


End file.
